Ivan Ilić is currently featured on the homepage of French website Pianobleu.com where his latest release THE TRANSCENDENTALIST, is ‘Disque du Moment‘. The site also includes an article on THE TRANSCENDENTALIST and an interview with Ivan Ilić.

Full article and in-depth Ivan Ilić interview (French language)

“Don’t hesitate to purchase this album to fully appreciate these 20th and 21st century works throughout the whole summer. They will offer you lovely moments of peace and meditation, spiced with the pleasure of discovery!”

Excerpt from the interview:

What is the performer’s role? What are the limits of this role? Who decides these limits? Is someone who is curious, or who aspires to be open-minded, obligated to voluntarily limit their curiosity so as to better satisfy the expectations of a pre-established role? Or do they have the right to undermine the pre-existing template and adapt it to their personality, and even express a critical perspective of the role?

These are questions I ask myself every day. Why? Because lately, I find it harder and harder to accept the idea that being a musician means that I can only express a tiny little bit of who I am, and that I must hide the rest deep down so that I can better conform to the expectations of others.

Download the article and interview in English

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Frederick Casadesus of French journal Mediapart has reviewed THE TRANSCENDENTALIST by Ivan Ilić on its blog.

“Ivan Ilic reinvents his soloist’s career by presenting “The Transcendentalist”.

This is an original album, an alliance of Scriabin and Cage, a subtle association of modernities. This American pianist of Serbian origin lives in Paris. It’s lucky that he chose to live in France because it gives us the opportunity to listen to him wander through scores in person.

With an assured technique, and inspiration above all else, this is a distinguished pianist who will attract large crowds of people for years to come.”

Read the full review (French language)

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German newspaper Aachener Zeitung has given THE TRANSCENDENTALIST by Ivan Ilić a 5 Star review.

It translates as:

“You won’t need to warn the neighbors when you’re listening to this CD. For what the pianist Ivan Ilić conjures out of his grand piano on this truly special album remains mainly within the piano – to the point that even the substance may remain inaudible. “The Transcendentalist” is the attempt of the American, who was born in Belgrade 35 years ago and now lives in Paris, to compile music which could relate to the (very eccentric) ideas of Transcendentalism from the middle of the 19th century.

Ilić finds this music with Scriabin, whose preludes, reveries and garlands have a dimension which leads to different spheres. The same is true of John Cage and Morton Feldman, two American musical revolutionaries of the post-war era whose musical works weren’t just crazily experimental, but also meditative. Cage’s “Dream” or his “In a Landscape”, both from 1948, are such minimalistic sound journeys that, by circling within themselves, they transport the soul into distant realms.

The repetitive “Music without Metaphor” by the young American Scott Wollschleger is at the middle of the album, and at the end there is Feldman’s 22-Minute “Palais de Mari”. It’s fascinating, sensual, unpretentious music with an immediate connection to the hereafter. Ilić presents himself as your close confidant and the beauty of his sound is a phenomenon. For your neighbor to get something out of it too, you’ll have to invite him over.”

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Peter Katina of Hudobný život magazine reviews Ivan Ilić‘s THE TRANSCENDENTALIST.

“Ilić saves his wonderful icing on the cake for the end, where he finally ‘reveals his true colors’ and offers the listener elements of tonal culture and variety.”

“Widespread areas of Feldman’s lonely, melancholic chords sometimes surprise by their tonal tint and sound within a magical, drowsy mist. Here, Ilić succeeds in achieving a precise illusion of transcendence.His success is perhaps due to an emotional reserve, distance and an effort towards unfussiness.”

Thanks to Patrícia Holíková for the English translations.

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In a piece entitled Two ways for classical pianists to be ‘transcendent’, New York newspaper The Buffalo News has reviewed Heresy’s latest release THE TRANSCENDENTALIST by Ivan Ilić:

“Completing the disc is a piece pointedly called “Music Without Metaphor” by Scott Wollschleger, a 34-year old pupil of former Buffalonian Nils Vigeland, himself the musician Feldman called “the most brilliant student I ever had.” It is music that like all on Ilic’s fascinating disc, completely “transcends” all idea of virtuosity altogether. (How can you not love a record label called ‘Heresy?”) Thesis and antithesis in perfect balance. You do the synthesis.” – Jeff Simon

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Renowned Bavarian radio station, BR Klassik (Bayerischer Rundfunk) has awarded Ivan Ilić’s THE TRANSCENDENTALIST its CD Tipp (Critic’s Choice).

Read and listen to the article (German Language)

“With this CD the mechanical processes are quickly forgotten.  Are those really hammers that strike strings?  You hear delicate tone clouds that float by, form figures, and dissolve again.”

“…here virtuosity is a question of the mind and of independence, not of technical finesse.  The same can be said of Ivan Ilić, a sound philosopher on the piano.  After the final note of “The Transcendentalist” has faded, you actually feel: enlightened.” – Ben Alber, BR Klassik.

Read the full article in English

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Classical pianist, presenter and author Melanie Spanswick talks to  Ivan Ilić about THE TRANSCENDENTALIST on her blog.

“The Transcendentalist is an exploration of meditative music. It traces a mood from the miniatures of Alexander Scriabin to John Cage and Morton Feldman, to a new work by young American composer Scott Wollschleger. The Transcendentalist encourages this introspection. It was released on 2 June on Heresy Records and was awarded the CLIC prize from ClassiqueNews, and it is TGV Magazine’s Classical CD of the Month in France, for June 2014. The album has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Radio France, RTE Lyric FM, and Radio 4 Hong Kong.”

Read the full article and conversation

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Listen (French language)

Read review (French language)

English translation:

We are far removed from Liszt’s Twelve Transcendental Etudes: neither virtuosity, nor impressive technique, nor speed; just the essential relationship, a vertical one, meditative as well, with sounds and with music. The Transcendentalist is an entire program created by Ivan Ilić, an American pianist of Serbian origin, a child of Silicon Valley trained in mathematics, who chose the piano before finally settling in France. For those who might interpret this choice of meditative pieces, and of refined miniatures, as a taste for limpness: we would reply that Ivan Ilić has thus far shown little disapproval of virtuosity, having recorded among other things Leopold Godowsky’s Chopin Studies, transcriptions which are particularly learned and difficult.

Above all, the pianist explores a particular branch of the history of piano music, starting with the legacy of Chopin, with musicians as diverse as Scriabin, John Cage or the young American composer Scott Wollschleger, all of whom tend towards abstraction, in particular by playing with structures. Or, for example, in Morton Feldman’s music, where the repetition of asymmetric fragments in constant low volume comprises his signature: “What I want is to listen to music through a telescope.”

This Transcendentalist is also placed under the sign of Salvador Dalí: the album cover reconstructs the scene of “Hallucination: six images of Lenin on a piano.” It includes the symbols and allegories so dear to Dalí: cherries for bountiful nature, ants on the musical score to evoke a certain idea of vanity, and of decomposition… with the difference that the little heads that float on the keyboard are not those of Lenin but of Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American philosopher, a founder of the Transcendentalist movement in the early nineteenth century. In fact, the recital takes the form of an inner journey: the ecstatic mysticism of Scriabin, the Buddhist thoughts of John Cage, the hypnotic style of Morton Feldman… All of these thoughts are summed up in the words of John CAGE, “I would like for each man to have his attention fixed upon himself.” – Matthieu Conquet

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Séverine Garnier of French magazine TGV has reviewed THE TRANSCENDENTALIST

“The cover, a distortion of a painting by Dali, is disconcerting. In it, the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson replaces Lenin… Mysteries, dreams, symbols: pianist Ivan Ilić’s programme is inspired by American Transcendentalism and weaves Scriabin’s Preludes with music by John Cage and Morton Feldman, two geniuses of the hippie generation. Ilić’s elegant, concentrated playing reveals the depth of this transparent music.”

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Presenter Eunice Chow features Ivan Ilić‘s THE TRANSCENDENTALIST on the New Releases show on RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong).
Listen to the show

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Pianist Ivan Ilić embarks on a journey of discovery of Feldman, Scriabin and Cage for his new album THE TRANSCENDENTALIST. In an article in Gramophone Magazine, he explains why Research is the key to making yourself a better musician.

“There’s a huge difference between ordering books on Amazon and traveling to icy Switzerland in February to read microfilm. I never thought I would say this, but it made me a better, a more engaged musician.”

Read the article

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Michael Johnson of Facts & Arts has review THE TRANSCENDENTALIST by Ivan Ilić.

“Ilić succeeds in transcending the clamor of modern life with his exquisite quietude.”

“I can’t think of any other living pianist who would match up eight Scriabin miniatures with works of John Cage, Morton Feldman and a young New Yorker named Scott Wollschleger. Ilić found musical relationships among them that make for a glove-like fit.”

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Séverine Garnier’s latest article Ivan Ilić nous élève l’esprit on her blog CLASSIQUE MAIS PAS HAS BEEN highlights Ivan Ilić‘s new release THE TRANSCENDENTALIST.

Here’s the English translation:

Ivan Ilić elevates our spirit

CD – The readers of this blog met Ivan Ilić in April 2012. The American pianist of Serbian origin had chosen Bordeaux as a base and released a disc of Chopin Studies revisited by Leopold Godowsky. He had already flabbergasted us with his excellent technique, and here he elevates our spirit with a captivating and profound new disc, “The Transcendentalist”.

The cover, a distortion of a painting by Dali, is disconcerting. In it, the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson replaces Lenin … Mysteries, dreams, symbols: pianist Ivan Ilić’s programme is inspired by American Transcendentalism and weaves Scriabin’s Preludes with music by John Cage and Morton Feldman, two geniuses of the hippie generation. Ilić’s elegant, concentrated playing reveals the depth of this transparent music.

In the CD’s liner notes, he explains the connections and the musical lineage:  “If one were to draw a family tree for the solo piano repertoire, the works on this album would all fall on branches descending from Frédéric Chopin.  Chopin was perhaps the most idiomatic composer for the piano, but his music epitomizes an affect that many 20th century composers rejected outright.

“It is therefore all the more surprising that one of the most distinctive composers of the early 20th century, Alexander Scriabin, took Chopin’s writing as a point of departure.  Few composers developed their musical language as quickly and as dramatically as Scriabin, yet the surface of his piano music maintains a palpable link to Chopin’s.  In addition to the “liquid” quality they have in common, the result of luxurious pedaling, there is also the intimate knowledge of the piano’s different registers, and the gently melancholic, yet elegant characterization of their melodies.

“All of these traits are shared by the works of John Cage, Morton Feldman and Scott Wollschleger featured here.  In these works each of these American composers tries not so much to reinvent the use of the piano, as to extend it towards a possible future.”

Séverine Garnier, 27 May 2014

Part of this article will be published in TGV Magazine in June 2014

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“Ivan Ilić seduces and captivates us from the beginning to the end of this tremendous programme.”

Lucas Irom of Classiquenews (France) has reviewed Ivan Ilić’s THE TRANSCENDENTALIST which is released today on Heresy Records. The album also received the Classiquenews Le Clic Award.

Read the full review (French)

“A cosmic piano, an intellectual one, a keyboard opening a path to other worlds… In his quest for the invisible, the excellent pianist Ivan Ilić makes no concessions to facility (he demonstrated this in a previous album dedicated to Godowsky, a commendable challenge met to perfection with the left hand – a peak for a pianist withfull mastery of both of his agile hands). Our voyaging artist now returns, tuned to the grandiose, visionary, intimate universe of Scriabin, Cage, Feldman… and of the leastknown of the quartet, Scott Wollschleger… [Ilić] knows how to chisel each composer’s intense and voluble interior necessity, how to characterise the travails of thought as much as the fingers’ virtuosity.”

Read the full review (English)

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